Why We Explore

The “we” in this text specifically refers to the SKÄLVA collective that consists of Jenny Simmar and Ulrika Berge.

Why do we do this? What is it that we explore? What have we found? What are we searching for?

We are interested in communication through movement. Our events are meetings between people who come from different backgrounds and different moving patterns. The explorations have shown that a group can surprisingly fast build a communication through improvised movement.

The city surrounds us. Tall houses with thick walls, buildings that have been standing at the same spot for decades, closed doors that opens only if you own the key and windows that reveals small parts of the inner life of a building. The asphalt, cobbled stones and concrete streets stretch under us, mostly meeting our shoes and wheels of our vehicles (we prefer bikes, skateboard, roller-skates, busses and skies on wheels when it comes to rolling transportation).The architecture of a city has a message of stability around it. I will not be gone tomorrow, it tells us, You wont be able to change it by any small force and of course you are nothing but a small force – if any force at all.The walls won´t fall if you lean on them, if you dance with me I won´t join you.

We live in this city. The last years our town is getting more and more closed and gated, especially in the citycenter. Despite this depressing tendency there is plenty of space (the streets, the squares, the parks, the in-betweens) and we want to use it! It is a political act. We train ourselves to look at architecture in the perspective of movement. How does this space invite and influence our movements? We build bodies into architecture. We see movement as structures. In the creation of structures built with bodies we add to the surrounding architecture. This happens in a now-when-we-are-here. We are more timespecific and time limited than most of the surrounding architecture. We are here now and later we are gone, but inside us we have forever changed the picture of the space where we moved. Maybe this happened inside some of the people who saw us as well (even though we care little for this when we explore).

How much freedom to move can we give ourselves in the city? In a place where we will be observed by random passersby’s. This is a political question. We are not doing performances. We bring energy into the place but do not force a reaction. We respect the surroundings. We don’t use music because the city is already so soundpolluted. Music is a dominative way of affecting people. Our strategy is play. We chose places that harbors qualities that interest us, or is available for us. We trust the exploration before it has even started. We trust the weather, we are sure it will be with us, no matter if it’s pouring wet rain, freezing icy winds or showing a sunny side.

As hosts we meet those who come to join us. Everyone who joins has made an effort and we recognize and praise the fact that they turned up. They want to be here. It is forced upon no one. The explorations are not a part of a school plan or a work place teambuilding adventure. We are in this exploration together. We make a network, a web, a space for a group to exist. We are interested in how it is to be seen by a group and being inside the group.We can fuel the building of a group, but how things develop is up to everyone. We create the groups we’ve longed for when we had too many experiences of non-sustainable groups.

Duration of exploration is limited. Moving in a public space is an intense experience if you engage in it fully. Nothing should feel endless. We don’t continue until we are worn out. We stop when the time is out. This is important. We come together at a set time and space and then we finish we spread out. A huge scatter-and-gather flow inbetween our events.

Our camera is always dancing with us. We use the documentation to explore cyberspace. Our blog is a playground for an investigation of how internet works. We are interested in co-writing and often set a score for a text and develop it through play within the structure. A documentation of something is an interpretationa report, an illusion, a transformation or simply play. Often all these things at once. We stretch what has happened into the future.We want to be visible so you can find us and come and move with us! Do play!

Results so far (after one year of exploration):

A groupfocus can be found very fast if everyone wants it.

When you do something with a happy unexpected energy people respond to the happy energy even if it creates some disturbance.

When you hold a strong focus in a group it is very intense, and therefore it is normal during an hour of groupimpro to shift between very focused, focused and less focused. One of our responsibilities as hosts is to notice when too big part of the group sink and lift.

The city is ours to use.

The photos are from the Explore Stockholm Events that was held in two rainy days in june. When it was time to dance it cleared up and we enjoyed dancing with you – the brave people – that showed up despite the bad weather. Thank you!